Advances in wireless telecommunications are rapidly increasing the utilization of mobile devices that handle communication of media and data between users and providers. Typically, mobile devices have connected to mobile networks, such as a wireless wide area network (WWAN) employing a wireless connection (e.g. 2G/3G/3.5G/4G). Traditionally, voice services over wireless networks were provided by circuit-switched (CS) systems wherein a dedicated channel was used for each voice call. Although CS systems provide a guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS) in terms of end-to-end (ETE) delay for the voice traffic, the network is inefficiently utilized. This is because resources for the dedicated channel are always reserved, even when communication is not carried out over the channel.
In particular, traditional CS networks enable opening a circuit between participants at the beginning of a call and allocating the total bandwidth on that circuit to the participants for the duration of the call. If the participants need less bandwidth, the operator cannot share the allocated bandwidth with other users, or if they need more bandwidth, the operator is unable to provide additional bandwidth. As wireless communications evolve, packet-switched (PS) networks have been developed that provide operators extra flexibility to optimize coverage, call quality and data speed. PS networks typically stream one or more packets (voice and/or data) to/from the user, by a route, which is determined based on an algorithm. Thus, the network operator can prioritize different types of packets according to user demand. However, the PS network imposes a ‘best-effort’ constraint on packet delivery. For example, the PS network employs best efforts to deliver packets to their destination on time, but the PS network cannot guarantee their arrival schedule.
In addition, the wireless environment and the mobility of users present additional challenges to packet delivery. For example, radio channel conditions between a device and the network can usually vary and the channel can become better or worse over time. Thus, a constant Quality of Service (QoS) is difficult to maintain over time. The traditional signaling approach provides a significant overhead with signaling exchanges among the networks and devices. Accordingly, call setup and treatment is delayed and is not optimum. Further, for advanced data services in mobile communications, such as, but not limited to, email, streaming and/or video communication, the conventional systems do not provide significant QoS support, leading to inefficient utilization of network resources.